


Mask

by ThatSinga



Series: Rowvember 2019 [13]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-18 05:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21506200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatSinga/pseuds/ThatSinga
Summary: What's up with the Boss wearing masks anyway?
Series: Rowvember 2019 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1537489
Kudos: 9





	Mask

People usually wore masks to hide their identity when committing crimes, others wore them for special events like masquerade balls, some wore them for looks or to shield themselves from the cold, Velvet, however, had to wear masks to appear human. She had to constantly conceal parts of her body such as her tail, horns, wings, eyes, claws and fangs, she could never muster enough energy to hide them all simultaneously, so she always had at least one of them exposed and had to find a way to cover them through other means.

The cold weakened the Boss, winter was her least favorite time of the year, she had to use so much energy to stay warm and move her body in these low temperatures that she didn't have much strenght left when it came to hiding her true form. Her wings always had to be concealed, she couldn't just slip those under a jacket, she could afford to show her horns and play it off as an accessoire, claws were mostly fine underneath gloves or she could pretend they were just sharp manicured nails, she would be able to block her catlike eyes with a pair of sunglasses, her tail was a bit more difficult but could be tucked away beneath a coat and for her fangs she'd use a bandana. She could easily argue she wore it to keep her face warm, which it obviously did but indoors it wasn't as simple to explain, maybe claim it's fashionable? Then again, why should she have to justify her clothing choices to anyone anyway? 

She remembered the first time she'd worn a mask back on the Row when she was relatively new to the Saints and never spoke a word, of course it was Gat who brought it up and straight up asked what the deal with it was before reaching for her face trying to remove the bandana, "C'mon don't hide shit from us, lemme-AAGH" she had caught his hand as he went for her face and almost broke his wrist, he was fucking mad at her after that for a couple of days and she felt like shit but he shouldn't have tried to grab it in the first place, he told her there was no secrets amongst Saints, how wrong he had turned out to be. These days he didn't question it when she randomly wore a mask indoors anymore, however the Boss was sure he was still curious but respected her privacy enough to not mention it.

It's not that she's hideous under the mask, as long as her mouth is closed it looked normal, only once she opened it would you see her sharp teeth and long tongue but she just preferred to be safe and wore one as soon as she realized she wasn't able to conceal them with her powers, had she completed her demon training before being banished to the human world, she wouldn't have that problem. Velvet had a bunch of masks with different designs, a plain black one, a similar one with an anime cat mouth on it that she got from Johnny as a joke but actually likes and a red one with a skull motif to name a few, her favourite one however was a dark grey mask with sharp demonic teeth imprinted on it that would glow in the dark. Velvet liked the irony of hiding her pointy fangs behind a mask that displayed exactly that and the glowing pattern of the teeth paired with her glowing eyes was perfect for intimidating her enemies at night.

She was alone, sitting on a couch in HQ with a map of Stilwater laid out on the table in front of her, just as she was about to mark something on it, Johnny came walking down the stairs, "Mask again, huh?" he noticed, "You know Boss, if you have bad breath you could just brush your teeth," he joked as he went past her towards the frigde, "Fuck you, I always smell good", she defended herself as she flipped him off, Gat walked back with two bottles of beer, he opened them both on the side of the table and handed her one, "Nice try," she thought as she raised the bottle to her lips and drank the liquid straight through the fabric of the mask, soaking it a little, Johnny couldn't see her mouth but knew she was giving him a smug smile judging from how her eyebrows moved, "Are you for real?" he asked offended as he heavily set down his beer on the table, spilling some of it on the map, she was a bit surprised at how upset he was, "We've been friends for how long now and you still hide your face from me randomly?" those words hurt, he was her friend but she couldn't just dump a secret like hers onto him like that, she was also getting annoyed that he couldn't just let it be, "You know what happened with the Saints the last time there were secrets," she saw him extend his arm and caught it just like she did a few years ago, she thought they were past this, "How much do you value your arm, Johnathan?" she asked him threatingly as she tightened her grip, he didn't flinch and just looked her in the eyes with a steely expression, "Not as much as I value knowing more about you, fuck I don't even know your name!" he was angry and she understood him to an extent, he had just recently lost Aisha, now she was his oldest friend and the only person he had left from back on the Row and he knew hardly anything about her.

She carefully loosened her grip on his arm which he withdrew from her once it was free, "I'm sorry," he said lowly, "I didn't mean to lash out at you like that," he was the one who started it but it was her who felt bad, recent events had broken him, he had wounds that needed tending to, not just physically but mentally as well, he tried to play it off by acting like his usual self but she could see through his bullshit, he was hurting and while she knew she couldn't fill the hole Aisha had left within him, she could at least try and be more open with the man she considered to be her best friend, "Velvet," she softly spoke, "Wha?" he didn't know what she meant by that so she said it again, "Velvet," he just looked at her confused, "You mean the cake in the fridge? Sure I'll get ya a slice," he said as he got up, she grabbed his arm once more to pull him back down on the sofa and shook her head, as he slowly started to realize, "Wait, that's-" he asked but cut himself off as he pointed at her to which she replied with a nod, he leaned back on the couch as he looked at his beer on the table, "Velvet," he repeated, it sounded weird to hear her name spoken out loud, especially by someone else but she liked the way he said it, "Velvet, with two 'V'," he muttered as he picked up the brew, she raised an eyebrow at what he was saying but didn't interrupt him, "Like V-V as in Vivi," he finished, was he already turning it into a nickname? Vivi, it sounded kinda cute, she was glad she was wearing her mask right now or else he would have caught her blushing, she decided she liked it, "Johnny?" she had to make one thing clear however, "Don't call me by name unless you're 100% sure we're alone," she warned, "If anyone else finds out I-" "You'll kill me, I gotcha," he finished her threat as he clinked his bottle against hers.


End file.
